Ball drapery.



PATENTED JUNE 5, 1906.

E. M GRAWFQRD. BALL DRAP'ERY.

APPLICATION 21mm MAILS. 190s.

\HvEN-roR ATTEST.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

BALL DRAPERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 5, 1906.

Application filed March 5, 1906. Serial No 304,381.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD M. CRAWFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ball Draperies; and I do declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the samev My invention relates to ball draperies and the invention consists in a drapery adapted to be used for portires and the like and in which the decorative efiect is obtained by the use of preferably solid wooden balls which are linked up into strands or strings by means of links and rings, all substantially as shown and described, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a portire of drapery arranged and displayed in one of the many different forms or effects that may be obtainedby this construction, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of one of the numerous diamond-shaped figures seen in Fig. 1 and showing some of the balls in section. As thus shown, the invention consists, primarily, in the construction and combination of parts seen in Fig. 2 and havin' the evident possibilities for variety in sty e and make-up of the drapery to get difi erent decorative effects which said construction suggests. Thus the single figure or design in Fig. 2 is but an enlargement of the numerous similar or diamond-shaped figures indicated by 2 in the upper transverse portion of the drapery and constituting together a so-called diamond field,while some of the strands or strings O hang as pendants suspended from the lower lines of the diamond field, while other strands D are gathered up at their ends and form loops which add to the general decorative effect.

It is also to be observed that the appearance or figure-work or design of the drapery can be very materially changed from What is shown without making any changes whatever in the mechanics or structure thereof, by which I mean the strands comprising balls 0 and wires or links a and the formation constituting the diamonds, the trailing strands C, and the scallops or loops D. The diamond figures necessarily include rings E.

might be considerable structural difference made, so as to throw more or fewer balls into any one strand or string, and these could be variously changed as to the intervening rin s E, thus showing that there is practically no imit to the range which taste may have in the display of drapery of this kind.

Now, considering the strands structurally, each and all strands consist of a plurality of balls 0, preferably of wood, so as to be light,

and also preferably spherical and solid. Ordinarily the said balls are kept in their natural wood color, except as they are varnished; but they may be painted or stained, and very attractive effects can be worked out by using different colors in the same drapery which harmonize with themselves and with their surroundings. Assuming then that the balls are solid wood, they are provided with bores or holes through their center, and straight wire stems or links a are passed through the same and have their ends formed into loops just outside said balls by or through which they are engaged with the link of the next adjoining ball or with the ring E, and

so on. The term strand or string as used herein comprises a series of balls linked together, but does not include rings E. These rings perform a function peculiar to themselves in the present organization, because they permit the strands to shift position according as one figure or shape or another is to be formed with said rings as the shiftin ground. For example, if in Fig. 2 the strands were brought so near together that opposite balls next to the rings would contact the loops 3 of said balls would come near together in the ring, Whereas if the strands were spread to form, say, a square the said loops 3 would be separated in the rings proportionately. Hence the ring is an essential element in a drapery in which the strands forming different figures center on said rings and which require a large latitude of change to get widely different draping eflects by the same means.

The links or wires a are passed through the balls before at least one of the ends is bent to form loop 3, and said wire is supposed to fit comfortably in said ball, and by bringing the two end loops 3 of each link close to the ball the balls are kept close together even when two connecting loops intervene and the strand gets all the flexibility needed. The rings E necessarily are relatively large, so as to afiord the range of accommodation needed to vary the figures to be'formed by the four side strands entering thereon. Tassels F are shown in some of the diamonds 2, formed in this instance with balls of varying sizes or in some other way.

What I claim is A drapery consisting of a series of strands of solid wooden balls and wires through said balls flexibly looped together between said balls, in combination with rings with which corresponding ends of said strands are loosely engaged, whereby four several strands can be converted in diamond, square and other figures with said rings as their terminals at each angle of the figures.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD M. CRAWFORD. Witnesses:

R. B. MosER, H. T. FISHER. 

